Of deer we have but two, and these, the noblest of our feres naturd, are becoming very rare.
The roe-buck: the following passage from one of the author's cor respondents is interesting, and we do not recollect having seen the observations elsewhere in print.
"The roebuck is now rarely met with in England; though it still abounds in many parts of Scotland. 'They are not frequently met with,' says Mr. Tytler, in a letter with which he has lately favoured me, 'in larger numbers than two or three at a time; but we find their couches among the heather, as if a larger party, perhaps six or seven, had lain together. They scrape off the heather, and make a form like hares, which they also resemble in keeping to the same tracks, and in stopping frequently, if a sudden, not very loud noise is heard. The roe seems to be extremely cautious; and they make use of their fine sense of smelling, as well as hearing, to warn them of an enemy. They will scent a man a long way off, and hold their noses in the air, like a pointer drawing on his game. A usual way of deceiving them is, to hold a lighted peat in the hand, while approaching or lying in wait for them, as the animals are accustomed to this smell, and less guarded in coming towards the spot. Their cry is like the baa of a sheep, but more concentrated, so as to sound somewhat like a bark: at night especially, and in still moonlight, the cry may be heard to a great distance, and they are constantly answering each other through nearly a whole night.
"'The roe,' continues Mr. Tytler, 'is never known to turn on its enemy when wounded; but bad wounds are sometimes received from its horns while it lies tossing its head in agony. It is very active; and I have seen one bound, without much apparent effort, across a road nearly twenty feet wide. Their usual pace, unless when hard pressed, is a long, rather awkward canter; but when closely hunted, or suddenly startled, their bounds are the most rapid and beautiful that can be conceived. They often come down on the corn-fields and peas in the neighbourhood of their haunts, feeding entirely in the grey of the morning or evening. The usual method of killing them is to drive the wood with hounds and beaters, the shooters being placed so as to command the tracks or passes; and caution is necessary to avoid the windward side, as the roe will not approach if it smell the enemy. This sport is very tiresome; and a much more exciting mode is, to walk quietly through their haunts in the earliest dawn, and endeavour to get within shot of them; which, however, is by no means easily effected.'"—p. 409.
Of the Cetacea or whales no less than fourteen are enumerated; the dolphin (Delphinus delphis), the bottle-nosed dolphin (D. Tursio), the porpoise (Phocana communis), the grampus (P. orca), the caaing whale (P. melas), the white whale (Beluga leucas), the bottle-head (Hyperoodon bidens), Sowerby's whale (Diodon Sowerbyi), the narwhal (Monodon monoceros), the spermaceti whale (Physeter macrocephalus), the high-finned cachalot (Physeter Tursio), the common whale (Balæna mysticetus), the finner or Rorqual (Balænoptera boops), and lastly, the northern manati (Rytina borealis), an animal of which we scarcely possess any information; its occurrence appears to have been purely accidental, the dead body having been thrown on shore
